Which of us doesn’t remember the fun of jumping in a stream of warm wind in light clothes and shorts over endless fields of green, or over a seashore with turquoise water adjacent to it? To catch at altitude the last rays of the sun during the sunset, or breathe in the smell of grass and heated ground after another jump is completed?
Needless to say dropzones everywhere are the most welcoming to skydivers during summer season. Some of them are only open in that time but a good few, mainly the bigger ones, continue their work in the remaining part of the year.
Jump in -17°C?
A good illustration can be found in Moscow region, Russia, at the biggest regional dropzone Aerograd Kolomna, that also doesn’t stop its activity during winter season. Every frosty, snowy winter weekend you can come there and easily make some jumps if the weather allows.
Here we go!
But – if anyone comes? Today is – 17°C outdoors. Who would be so bold?… Let’s dive into it and explore the situation, like a fly on the wall…
A group of belly flyers is discussing their slots in a mini-formation to occupy in 20 minutes half of all slots in the next load; a freestyler with a cameraman are limbering up as it seems big jumping work; a 2-way FS team is training an exit on the ground; some freeflyers are producing, somewhat conspiratorially, a new plan of joint air fun; single newly-minted jumpers are checking their gear again and again, along with tandem passengers in brightest clothes, full of perplexity and unclear expectations of the forthcoming event. And ..? Even wingsuit pilots are here! It seems as if summer didn’t end several months ago.
Knight in Warm Clothing
But it definitely did. Thermal underwear supplemented with thick tights or underpants, fleece or wool sweater or windstop jacket, a pair of warm socks, chemical hotties into shoes, jumpsuit, protection for neck and face, helmet liner, sometimes waistcoat over the suit itself, a helmet with sincere prayers not to become misted as usual on the last 15 meters above the ground, a pair of gloves, windproof shoes and, finally… a parachute itself – a skydiver is ready for work! Sometimes it resembles the process of any medieval knight adorning his robes of armour.
Warm Plane
In fact, being outdoors on the ground at low temperatures is not a problem, as your time there is generally limited to a path from the (warm) winter hangar to a plane or helicopter. The Let 410, the most popular aircraft for skydivers here, was originally designed as a civilian short-range plane and allows us to turn on heating inside 🙂 Your serene drowsy climb to the necessary altitude is interrupted by a sharp vortex of outboard air, rushing in through the opened door. It’s high time to wake up. A completely good and – what is more substantial warm – plane is to be left behind…
Captivating Picture
The usual colorful view of the earth under you has turned into shots of captivating black-and-white cine film, and the picture of an airfield now also differs much from those you got used to.
But joy, admiration and wonder are decreasing along with the altitude. The most responsible and less arousing part of the winter jump is coming and you should turn on all your attention. Even an action that is inoffensive in summer, such as a slightly early deployment by a few hundred meters, will give you extra hassle – useless and even counter-productive minutes of flying under the canopy. Hands must hold toggles strongly (in thick gloves it’s more difficult to tuck into them) and fingers start to become frozen, without actively working them against it. If there’s a big humidity that day in the air, the freeze is turning into smarting pain and loss of sensibility.
Blind Landing
Another sticking point may be hidden in full-face helmets. Some of them are difficult to open (or take off) with a gloved hand. The lenses of some have a tendency to become misted, with persistent ignorance to all assistance like anti-fog spray. Together sometimes this has resulted in a blind landing. A lot of clothes and thick gloves constrict movement. This has an affect when you are about to cutaway, or correct minor problems with your canopy.
Snow Blind
Speeding up a canopy on the last few meters before landing, it’s also useful to bear in mind that plain white snow hides the height very well! Frequently you can watch the picture when a skydiver makes a flare too early, stops a canopy at some height over the ground and then flops down into the snow, scattering around a fountain of snowflakes.
Frostbitten
Frostbitten hands with two pair of gloves off are put firstly in snow, then under a stream of cold water and only then in the warm air of the winter hangar. The circle is complete.
Most Devoted
And do you think that one successfully completed jump, full of all the aforementioned, is enough to satisfy the current obsession to jump? No way! On average, there are 8 loads during daylight hours, they are always full and contain not less than 20 people. It is interesting, for at least several years there is a group of jumpers, who don’t prepare for any competitions and never participate in any of them, but every single weekend in any weather can be found at the dropzone, ready for skydives, even if it’s obvious from the early morning that there’s no weather for today. They are the most devoted fans of the sky.
The first time I came to a dropzone was to make my first jump in summer. An unknown man near the ticket window asked me: ‘Are you ready to make a feat?’.
I skeptically answered: ‘You consider it’s a feat – to make a jump?’
‘Well, to fall from 4 000 meters – isn’t it?’
‘I don’t think so!’
And I really didn’t think so, successfully jumping since that day, until the winter arrived. Then, when it was -23°C on the ground and – 38°C at the open plane door, I realized that everything is relative!
Good luck in the conquest of the sky in any weather for all of us!
